Grace Like Rain
by Protector-of-Atlantis
Summary: After an attack on the Daedalus, it's up to Major Lorne to save the day.
1. Chapter 1

Story Name: Grace Like Rain

Summary: Returning from a humanitarian aide mission, the Daedalus is lured into a trap by a fake distress call. After a battle, Major Lorne discover the crew is missing and must figure out where everyone is and save the day before it's too late.

Spoilers: None, Mentions events of "Travelers"

Disclaimer: Don't own anything. No clue about the title but I kinda wanted this to be a "Grace-like" story (i.e. Grace and Grace Under Pressure). And before you ask, no I'm not giving up on my other story. The Atlantis/Torchwood idea is still a work in progress. I've been REALLY busy with work and haven't had time to work on the next chapter yet. The only reason I've got this up is because this idea has been eating away at me for a while and I felt like I needed to hurry up and start it. So for the time being I'm going to try doing two stories at once so it may take awhile for updates to come. Please let me know what you think and don't be afraid to point out any mistakes that I've made. Enjoy and hopefully more to come soon!

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While traveling through hyperspace, there wasn't much to do to pass the time. Major Evan Lorne knew this fact all too well. Sitting in the commissary, all Evan could do was just gaze out the window as the Daedalus glided silently through subspace. As he sat there drinking his coffee, Evan reflected on the events that had taken place over the past day and a half. He was so deep in thought that he didn't even seen Dr. Jennifer Keller come stand at the table where he was sitting.

"Major?" Drawing Evan from his thoughts, he turned to Jennifer as she smiled at him. "Mind if I join you?"

"No not at all." He replied. As Jennifer placed the tray of food she was carrying down on the table, Evan stood to pull the chair out for her then sat back down in his own seat.

"So, how are you?" Jennifer asked as she began to eat.

"I'm good." He told her as he took another sip of his coffee. "Why do you ask?"

"Ever since we left M4H-904, you've seemed kinda distant. Is everything okay?"

"It's just weird, you know." Evan began as he leaned back in his chair. "I've seen the aftermath of Wraith cullings; the destruction, the despair, the pain. But nothing can really prepare you for the results of a natural disaster. And for a people who always have to keep a watchful eye to the sky, a meteor shower must have really scared the hell out them."

"I guess you're right." She said as she took a moment to let what Evan had just said sink in. "In med school, you have to try and prepare yourself for the worst. You know that your next patient could be in worse shape than the last but you can never know what to expect until the moment happens."

"Those people lost so much but there is only so much we can do to help." He said as he leaned forward to prop himself up on the table.

"Not to mention that their only means of trade was destroyed."

"Yeah. From the stories we heard, the Stargate was hit right after the shower started. We wouldn't have even known anything about it if we hadn't tried to dial the gate. When the wormhole didn't connect, Colonel Carter knew something was up."

"How are they supposed to get by without a gate? Our supplies medicine can only take them so far. And we can't keep making trips on the Daedalus. It's a two-day journey from Atlantis to Elysia."

"From what I've heard," Evan started, "we're looking around for a gate that isn't being used by anyone. Once one is located, it'll be transplanted to Elysia and hopefully they'll be able to get back on track."

"That'll be great." Jennifer said, taking a bite out of her sandwich. "On the bright side, at least we didn't have to worry about hearing McKay complain about the entire situation." Evan couldn't help but laugh at this.

"Good ol' Rodney. He probably would have gotten a splinter and thought he would have to get his hand amputated." As Jennifer laughed at Evan, he took another sip of coffee. Making a face as he put his cup down, he leaned close to Jennifer. "I'll be glad when we get back home. Between you and me, this is a poor excuse for coffee and I really need a good pick me up."

"You military types and your caffeine addictions." She joked. "Don't worry, we'll be home soon." Smiling, Evan turned to once again stare out of the window. No sooner had Evan's thoughts began to merge with the hyperspace 'aurora' outside, the intercom suddenly blared to life.

"_Major Lorne, Doctor Keller. Please report to the bridge."_

"Looks like lunch got cut short today." Jennifer said to him as they both stood to make their way to the bridge.

Within minutes the two were on the bridge of the Daedalus, standing beside Colonel John Sheppard, Teyla Emmagan, and Ronon Dex. It didn't take long for Evan to realize something was up, something that wasn't scheduled.

"What's going on?" Jennifer asked as she watched John move next to Colonel Steven Caldwell.

"We're picking up a distress signal about three light years away from our current position." Colonel Caldwell explained.

"Can we hear it?" Evan asked, his senses going into high alert.

"We've only been able to receive parts of the message, sir." Captain Dave Kleinman told them as he worked with the display in front of him. "Patching it through now." As the speaker began to play, everyone flinched as a high pitch squeal pierced room, followed by static, then the garbled message.

"_..to anyone… assistance. We've …. attacked. Dozens wounded. Please help."_

"Is there any chance at all we can offer assistance?" Teyla asked, now concerned with the fact that lives were in danger.

"Doctor, can your staff handle a medical emergency at the moment?" Caldwell asked, turning his chair to face Jennifer.

"We don't really have enough personnel to handle a situation like this but if lives are at stake we'll do the best we can."

"If there's a chance we can help these people, we need to." Ronon said, crossing his arms.

"Agreed." Caldwell said before turning back to face the front. "Set a course."

"Yes sir. ETA, ten minutes." Kleinman said as he entered the coordinates in the navigational system. As the ship altered direction, Jennifer hurried off toward the infirmary to gather the supplies and help she would need for the soon to be incoming casualties.

The ten-minute trip seemed to be instantaneous under the stress of the situation. As the Daedalus dropped out of hyperspace, the scene before the bridge crew made everyone's heart skip a beat. Surrounded by asteroids, the source of the distress signal was in sight. The medium size ship drifted directly in front of them, a gaping hole torn in the side.

"Wait a minute." John said, stepping forward. "I recognize that ship."

"From where?" Caldwell asked.

"It's a similar design to the type of ships that Larrin uses."

"Larrin?" Ronon asked. "Isn't that the chick that abducted and beat the crap out of you a while back?"

"Thank you for reminding me about that but yes, that's her. And it was just a simple misunderstanding. But there is something different about this ship than the rest of the ones she commanded."

"Captain, can you get any readings?" Caldwell asked Kleinman.

"Not at this range, sir. We need to get closer."

"Do it." Caldwell ordered before pressing the intercom button on his chair. "Doctor Keller, stand by."

As the Daedalus inched closer to the disabled vessel, Kleinman's console began to beep rapidly.

"Sir, I'm reading an energy build up within the ship." The captain reported frantically. "They're powering their engines… and weapons."

"What?! Get the shields up NOW!" Caldwell barked. However, it was too late as the ship was immediately rocked with blasts coming from the other ship. "Open a channel. Let them know that we are here to help them."

"No response, sir." Kleinman said, after a minute of trying to communicate. At that moment, a console near the rear of the bridge exploded in a shower of sparks, sending the crewman at that station flying to the floor.

"Sir, the energy readings from those weapons have a wraith signature to them." The tactical officer told him.

"Wraith? But…" before Caldwell could finish his sentence, another explosion rocked the bridge.

"Shields down to thirty percent." The tactical officer told him.

"Prepare to jump to hyperspace." Caldwell ordered.

"Sir, hyperdrive is offline." Kleinman ordered.

"Damn it!" Contemplating the next move, Caldwell glanced out and saw his next option. "Take us closer to the asteroids. Maybe they can help buy us some time to get out of here."

"Colonel!" John spoke up. "Let Lorne and me take the jumpers. The Daedalus is an easy target due to its size but maybe we can give them a run for their money with something smaller."

"Do it!"

Explosion after explosion made it difficult for the two men to make it to the hanger bay steadily. Once there, each made their way into one of the two Puddle Jumpers that they had brought along. Once through the hanger doors, John's voice came over the radio in Evan's jumper.

"_Major, you take port. I'll handle starboard."_

"Understood." As both jumpers dodged the asteroids that had began to fill the path between Daedalus and the enemy ship, each opened the weapons pods and fired drones at the ship. However, the drones didn't hit the ship as planned. Instead, they impacted upon a shield that protected the hull, which glowed a pale blue as the drones detonated. No sooner had the drones hit the shield, a second weapon turret targeted the two jumpers. Moving to dodge the blasts, Evan noticed the primary weapon still impacting the Daedalus' shields. A moment later, the entire shield grid flashed as smoke began to pour from the rear of the ship.

"_That last hit took out the shields and engines. I'm heading back towards the Daedalus to see how much damage I can do."_ John radioed.

"Sir, the enemy ship is moving directly above the Daedalus." As Evan finished reporting, a widespread, white beam emanated from the attacking ship and began to move from the stern of the Daedalus, heading towards the bow. "What the hell is that?"

"_I don't know but I don't like it. I'm going to see if I can take out that beam. Cover me."_

"Yes sir." As Evan followed suite in dodging the energy blasts, John began to unload his entire arsenal of drones on the enemy's shields. Flying in between the two ships, John fired one more volley into the shields just as the beam reached the front of the Daedalus. As the shields faded, another turret opened fire at John.

"Colonel, watch out!" Evan tried to warn, but it was too late. The blast struck a segment of the Daedalus, sending debris flying into John's way. As he tried to avoid, John inadvertently flew directly into the white beam, his jumper slowing as it passed through. As the smaller ship floundered, Evan increased his speed heading, towards the ships rear as the energy wave dissipated. Firing the last of his drones, Evan ripped a hole in the starboard engine, causing secondary explosions along the outer ventral hull. As he attempted to gain distance, the enemy fired in Evan's direction. The blast missed Evan's jumper, but struck an asteroid directly beside him, causing the debris to impact one of the drive pods. As the rocks disabled the engine, Evan's jumper began to spin rapidly out of control from the lack of equal thrust. As the jumper tumbled through space, the last thing Evan remembered seeing before blacking out was the enemy ship moving farther away from him.

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Sorry it's so short. This was a last minute thing and didn't want it to get too long. Enjoy!


	2. Chapter 2

Okay, here we go. Another chapter up. Sorry that it's taken so long. Trying to balance work with pleasure and believe work takes up most of my time. Anyway, on to the next chapter. You know the drill. Please review if you like it and/or you want me to continue, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE POINT OUT MY MISTAKES. I'm writing these chapters at night when my ideas are coming to me and when I'm EXTREMELY tired so I know they are out there, waiting to be found. Thanks all!!

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Fighting through the darkness, Evan could hear the shrill sound of an alarm piercing through the darkness that surrounded him. As he tried to focus, the sound became louder and louder until Evan realized that he had blacked out from the concussive force of the jumper being hurled through space. Gathering the strength to open his eyes, Evan found that he had been thrown from his seat and was now lying on the floor. Forcing himself onto his knees, Evan paused for a moment to regain his balance. When he was sturdy enough, Evan returned to his seat and turned to stare at the source of the alarm, which was the Heads-Up Display.

Reaching up to press a button to silence the alarm, Evan read the display to himself while he tried to keep his head from exploding.

'Emergency stabilizers engaged." he thought to himself. 'Didn't know jumpers had those. And I'm not complaining.' Taking a moment to relax, Evan sat back in his seat until the events of the past few hours quickly replayed in his mind.

"Colonel!" Snapping back to the situation, Evan reached up and activated the jumper's comm. systems. "Jumper One this is Jumper Two, come in." After a moment of silence, he tried again. "Colonel Sheppard, this is Major Lorne, do you copy?"

Still with no reply, Evan activated the sensors to find his bearings. As the HUD activated, two blips appeared on screen, one slightly larger than the other. Scanning to confirm that the larger one was the Daedalus, Evan tried the comm. again.

"Daedalus, this is Major Lorne, do you read? Repeat this is Major Lorne calling the Daedalus." Again the only reply he received was silence. "Okay, there's something weird going on. No static so the radio isn't busted." Returning his attention back to the HUD, he noticed that both Daedalus and Jumper One were just drifting through space. "Alright. Time to find out what the hell is going on."

Grabbing the controls, Evan began to head towards the drifting Daedalus. However, just as Evan was about to engage the engines, the HUD screen changed to a diagram of the jumper. As the screen flashed, Evan took note of the red-highlighted areas of the jumper and the alerts that were appearing.

"Starboard engine offline." He read out loud. "That's just great. Guess I'll have to try and make it back on thrusters alone." When he activated the thrusters, the jumper lurched forward with the movement and as it did so, the power flickered throughout the tiny ship. "I just hope I can make it back before the power gives out on me."

It took forty-five minutes for the damaged jumper to reach the portside 302 bay of the Daedalus. As he inched closer to the ship, Evan surveyed the damage caused by the enemy ship. Upon arrival, Evan once again tried to contact someone onboard the ship.

"Daedalus, respond." Again, nothing but silence emanated from the radio. Letting his head sag, Evan was certain that something was definitely wrong. Thinking for a moment, Evan instantly came up with an idea. "Got it. Now, all I have to do is see if I can remember that little trick McKay told me about."

After manipulating the jumper controls, Evan reached over and activated the jumper's radio transmitter. "Okay, so far so good. Now all I have to do is just keep increasing the frequency." As Evan turned one of the control dials a quarter of a turn, the console in front of him began to beep. Smiling at his success, Evan watched as the bay doors began to open. Thankfully for him, the damage didn't affect the force field that allowed the bay to keep from depressurizing. Passing through the field, Evan landed his jumper in the first available spot he could find. As the bay doors began to close, Evan left the jumper and walked to the nearest intercom to try to get some answers.

"Bridge, this is Major Lorne." After a few seconds, Evan became frustrated and tried again. "This is Major Lorne calling anybody on this crappy rust bucket!" Giving up with the comm., Evan turned and made his way towards the bridge. While he was walking, Evan noticed that it was quiet. Too quiet for a damaged battle cruiser that was in need of extensive repairs. Slowing his pace to listen for signs of anyone nearby, all he hears was the echo of his boots against the floor.

"Hello?" He called out. "Is anyone there?" The sound of his voice resonating through the empty corridors was the only answer he received. As reality began to sink in, Evan's breathing started to become very rapid. A cold sweat started to form on his forehead as he once again started towards the bridge. Continuing through the deserted corridors, Evan continued to pick up his pace until he broke into a run. Evan only stopped to catch his breath when he reached the elevator to the bridge. As the elevator climbed its way to the bridge level, Evan rested his head against the wall hoping that this was all just a bad dream he would wake up from at any moment.

When the lift stopped, Evan resumed his course with a slowed pace. At the entrance to the bridge, he stopped and stood in the silence before continuing any farther. Working up the courage to enter, Evan stepped into the empty bridge, which had a layer of smoke covering the floor. Walking to the center of the room, Evan stared at the vacant space before him.

"Colonel Caldwell? Kleinman?" he called out, hoping to get a response. "Anybody?"

Before he could do anything else, a shower of sparks exploded from the panel directly above Evan's head, causing him to fall to the floor. Quickly recovering from the fall, Evan made his way to the sensor control panel in an attempt to activate the internal sensors. After a few futile attempts and a strong hit to the side of the console, the sensors finally flared up. Scanning the inside of the Daedalus, Evan couldn't believe what the readout was telling him.

"This isn't happening." He said as he tried to accept the information the computer had just given him. Except for the one life sign on the bridge, the ship was completely deserted. Turning his back to the console, Evan slid down until he was sitting on the floor. "I'm all alone."

After contemplating his situation for a few minutes, Evan gathered himself and pushed up onto his feet. Moving to the station where Captain Kleinman would usually be, Evan tried to access the last bit of information that was recorded in hopes of getting some answers. "Alright," he told himself, "time to find out what happened."

A few minutes passed and after scanning through the data, Evan was still at square one.

"Okay, not much to go on here. Unknown energy wave, damage to forward weapons, blah blah blah…" He said as he continued looking at the small screen in front of him. Then when all seemed lost, his eye's caught a bit of information. "Hello. Now we're getting somewhere. Massive radiation leak from the other ship. Follow that and I might be able to find out what happened to everyone." Reading the last piece of information before the sensors went out, Evan almost lost hope at the final bit on the screen. "Hyperdrive? Are you kidding me? With one engine severely damaged? That's one hell of a ship."

Hoping to find more answers, Evan returned to the sensor console. Changing the search parameters, Evan extended what sensors that were working to scan for the radiation leak that was coming from the damaged ship. At first, he didn't have any luck in getting the computer to cooperate. Knowing that the more time that passed the chance of finding his friends was quickly fading, Evan pulled open the side of the panel and began to rewire the console. A few minutes later, the computer was working better than it previously was. Trying the search again, Evan was relieved when the energy signature he was looking for appeared on the scans.

"Now that's more like it." Taking note of the coordinates of where the trail resumed after exiting hyperspace, Evan moved to the navigation console. Inputting the destination into the computer, Evan tried to bring the ship's systems back online. "Let's see. Main engine start up looks good. I just hope the hyperdrive is gonna work for me. Shields and weapons are down so I'll try to get those back on the way. Judging by the distance, I'll have about an hour and half trip in hyperspace. More than enough time to get those ready." Evan said optimistically.

After the main engines were online, Evan took hold of the controls and began to move the Daedalus away from the asteroid field. "So far so good." He said as the ship moved gracefully through space. Just as Evan was about to open a hyperspace window, the console began to beep rapidly. "Engine overload?! You've go to be joking!" Trying to avoid a catastrophic explosion, Evan quickly shut the engines down. Sitting back to vent his frustration, Evan knew where his next stop would be: the engine room.

Getting up to leave the bridge, Evan removed his jacket and threw it to the floor as he left. The journey to the engine room passed quickly for Evan as he focused mainly on how he was going to pull off a rescue by himself. He knew the smart thing to do was try to get in touch with Atlantis for back up, but there wasn't time for that. His best bet was to try and do this on his own. When he finally reached the engine room, he checked the main terminal to see if he could find the problem with the engines. Running a full diagnostic, Evan couldn't seem to be able to isolate the problem that was causing him trouble.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you wanting to overload?" He asked the computer, knowing that he wasn't going to receive an answer. Sighing, Evan leaned back in the chair he was sitting in and considered one other alternative. Swiveling the chair to face the wall next to him, Evan stared at the small door that was placed into the wall. "Crystal control. Why not?" Getting up, he headed to the door and opened it, moving into the small access shaft. Finding the section that he needed, Evan slid open the panel to reveal the crystals inside. Evan sighed a sigh of desperation when he saw the blackened crystals inside the panel. Studying the layout of the charred crystals to the ones that seemed to be all right, Evan tried to remember all the times he heard McKay and Zelenka talk about repairing the hyperdrive by rearranging the crystals to by pass the damaged ones.

"Let's see. Pull the bad ones out." Evan said aloud as he began to work on the panel. "Move the medium crystal here, small one there, three large ones down and last one at the top."

Evan smiled as the panel began to glow when the last crystal was put into place. Just as he finished the panel began to hum loudly. Not sure as to why Evan stared and began to back away. Before he take two steps, the panel surged with enough energy to knock Evan roughly against the wall behind him, hitting his head against another panel. Recovering from the blow, Evan felt the back of his head to see how bad he was hurt. Pulling back his hand, he wasn't surprised to see that the tips of his fingers were covered in blood. Ignoring the pain, Evan pulled himself up and began to smile when he saw that the panel was still glowing and that the sound of the hyperdrive could be heard coming back online.

With the hyperdrive restored, Evan made his way back to the bridge. Once there he again took the controls and began to move the ship. When he was certain that the engines weren't going to overload again, he activated the navigational computer and proceeded to open a hyperspace window. After he was underway and the autopilot engaged, Evan ignored the pain of his head injury and attempted get the shields and weapons operational. It didn't take long for him to get the shields repaired and weapons partially operational. Knowing that there wasn't much more he could do by himself, Evan returned to the navigational controls. Sitting down, he leaned his head back to try and rest, the events of the day beginning to take their toll on him. Before he could really rest, the computer began to beep at him, signaling that he was nearing his destination. Taking hold of the steering controls, Evan entered the command to disengage the hyperdrive.

As soon as the Daedalus dropped out of hyperspace, Evan found that he was in orbit of a planet. Guiding the ship to a stable orbit, he pulled up the sensors in hopes that he could still trace the radioactive leak he was following. Finding the trail, he set the sensors to scan the area where the leak lead.

"One ship. That's some good news." He said as he interpreted the information the computer was giving him. "Apparently they haven't detected me or they would've blast me by now." Once again readjusting the scanners, Evan attempted to locate the missing crew. When the results came up negative, the only conclusions Evan could come up were that either something was blocking the signal of the crews' subcutaneous transmitters or…

"Don't go there Lorne!" He told himself. "Everyone is alive and you're gonna find them. But with the transporters down I'm not exactly sure how." Going over the options open to him in his head Evan could only come up with one plausible idea: land the Daedalus. Scanning the area around where the enemy ship was, Evan searched for a place that would be easy to land and that would help keep the Daedalus hidden. His search took about five minutes to come up with a location roughly two miles away. Taking a deep breath, Evan put the landing coordinates in the computer and began the landing procedure. As the ship began to enter the planet's atmosphere, it began to shake violently from the stress of reentry. Taking a firm grip on the controls, Evan tried to fight the force that was trying to prevent him from landing safely. Things began to go smoothly for him until midway through the landing. As he neared the ground, one of the consoles in the rear of the bridge exploded, sending shrapnel throughout the entire bridge. Fighting to remain in control, another console exploded near him. Shielding himself from the blast, Evan almost didn't hear the alarm that had begun to fill the bridge. Looking at the screen in front of him, Evan couldn't believe the luck he was having.

"Landing sequence malfunction! Aw, come on!" Doing what he could to try and abort the landing, Evan's heart almost stopped when he discovered that the system was locked and that there wasn't much he could do. The Daedalus was about to crash land that there wasn't anything he could do stop it. Pulling back on the controls, he tried to level out the flight path but was met with great resistance. As he pounded on the console to try and get the thrusters working, Evan was thrown forward as the ship began to impact the trees below. Recovering, Evan looked up in time to brace himself as the Daedalus impacted the surface of the planet. Thrust from the chair and over the console, Evan balanced himself against floor and looked up out of the window to see that the land in front of him was rapidly disappearing. Fearfully, he managed to make it back to the controls and tried desperately to get the forward thrusters to work. When the computer acknowledged the command, Evan pulled with all his might on the controls to try and slow the speeding ship down before he went over the edge of the approaching cliff. Still continuing to pull back on the controls, Evan could tell that the ship was finally beginning to slow down, but didn't think that there was going to be enough time to stop. Just as the bow was over the edge, the Daedalus stopped moving forward and creaked to a halt. Releasing the controls, Evan sighed in relief as he tried to slow his nervous breathing. His release was short lived however when his console beeped again.

'Sequence resumed. Engaging landing struts.' He read to himself. Not exactly sure what to expect, the ship leaned forward, farther over the edge as the rear struts asserted themselves above the ground, pushing the Daedalus up. Freezing in the position he was in, Evan didn't want to risk any movement that could possibly send the ship over into the chasm. When he determined that it was safe to move about, Evan gathered his wits and headed to the armory to stock up for the ensuing mission.

As soon as he had everything he needed, Evan took a life signs detector and placed it in the front pocket of his vest. Clipping his P-90 to his vest as well, Evan made his way to the nearest air lock that would allow him access to the ground. As soon as he was outside of the ship, he turned to look at the path of destruction the crash had caused, then turned to survey the damage to the Daedalus.

"Caldwell is gonna kill me for this." He said as he turned and began to make his way through the jungle that stood in front of him. Unbeknownst to Evan, his arrival had drawn the attention of a pair of eyes that followed him as he proceeded into the tree line.

An hour passed as Evan made his way through the thick foliage and he began to wonder if he was going the right way or if he was lost. Checking his LSD, he found that he was in fact moving away from the Daedalus and heading the way he needed to go. Realizing that the crash had thrown him off his intended course, Evan was glad that he had brought along a day's supply of water with him. Replacing the LSD with a canteen, Evan took a drink and wiped the sweat that was soaking his forehead. Taking a deep breath of the hot, humid air, Evan stored the canteen and began to move again.

It wasn't long after resuming that he realized that something was wrong. The natural sounds of insects and forest animals had died out and he was in complete silence. Taking a defensive position, he raised his P-90 and began to search the area. His suspicions that he wasn't alone was confirmed when a tree next to him shattered from the impact of a bullet. Turning to the direction the shot was fired, Evan saw five armed men approaching his location. Knowing that he couldn't take them on out in the open, Evan began to run in search of better cover. Dodging the bullets that flew past him, Evan paused and turned to return fire. He felt that his luck was beginning to change when he noticed that he managed to take out one of his pursuers. As the other four temporarily stopped, Evan took the opportunity to continue his search for a better position. As he continued to run he looked back to see if his attackers were gaining distance on him. Turning back to the path in front of him, Evan stopped dead in his tracks as he approached the edge of another cliff. Glancing over, he noticed that the only way to go was down into the river a hundred feet below or back into the woods.

Ducking at shot that was fired at him, Evan almost stumbled backwards off of the cliff. Firing a barrage into the tree line to ward off the ones following him, Evan cursed silently when his gun jammed. As he tried to work with it, he failed to see one of the men stand up and aim his gun at him. When Evan did notice it was too late. The man fired at Evan, hitting him in his upper left arm. The force of the bullet sent Evan hurtling over the edge with nothing beneath him but the river below. The remaining four men approached the edge and glanced over expecting to see a body, but there was none as Evan disappeared into the raging, murky waters.

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Don't ask me WHY I like doing cliffhangers (no pun intended with this chapter!!) or how I even go started doing them. It just works out that way. I guess it's to keep everyone coming back for more!!


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